BOOBY AND MAN-O'-WAR BIRD 



211 



less evident in wings and tail. A few birds of the year were 

 already a-wing and several nests contained fresh eggs. For 

 the greater number of birds, however, the nesting season, as 

 Bryant has stated, evidently begins in February. 



One or both of the adults remain, as a rule, with the 

 young. On April 9, the birds awoke at 5 :15 A. M., when for 

 the ensuing ten or fifteen minutes there was a subdued kind 

 of quacking, and some birds were seen flying. At 5 :30 sev- 

 eral hundred birds left the rookery in a body to go fishing, 



A Call on a Booby Family 



this being the general movement. Individuals returned at 

 intervals during the day and evidently changed places with 

 the bird left at the nest, which, in turn, went out to feed and 

 to gather fish for the young. 



There was no concerted return movement until dusk, 

 when flocks of birds came in from the sea, the last comers not 

 arriving until after dark. In the meantime, the Man-o '-Wai- 

 Birds had retired and it is not impossible that the Boo- 

 bies have acquired the habit of "staying out late" to avoid 



